For the release of the first ever all-original, fully animated feature length Looney Tunes film, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, I spoke with the film’s director, Pete Browngardt, and THE VOICE OF DAFFY DUCK AND PORKY PIG, Eric Bauza!
Boston Hassle: How’s it going? I’m Kyle.
Pete Browngardt: Hi Kyle, nice to meet you.
Eric Bauza: [Daffy Duck voice] How’s it going, Kyle?
BH: Oh, my god! I was gonna ask, but then I was scared. I was thinking of that video of Nicole Byer recently, where she was talking to the woman who voices Tails, and she’s like, “Could you say, Wow, Nicole?” And just like starts crying. That’s how I felt thinking about it.
EB: [Daffy voice] Get ready! [Porky Pig voice] Get some tissues!
BH: It makes me feel crazy. I love it. I loved the movie. I watched it a couple of months ago and I was so intrigued by there being a feature length Looney Tunes, and how that would feel since it’s been shorts the whole time. I thought it really really worked. I knew it was going to be great from the beginning, when the farmer is just shown as the still drawings with his beautiful, majestic face like he’s Paul Bunyan. I was wondering for the recording process, Eric, do you go back and forth between the voices, or do you do one at a time?
EB: First they put me in a straitjacket, then they make me take these pills, [Daffy voice] and then they hit record, and then send me a paycheck. I don’t know. I don’t ask questions. [Eric voice] A recording booth does kind of look like a rubber room if you ask me. But I do feel clear when I’m finished a session. I feel like I could paint a wall or move a couch by myself. [Porky voice] In a short form like this, it’s easy for me to [Bugs Bunny voice] slide back and forth, Doc, even with characters that aren’t in the movie. [Eric voice] But in instances like a feature film, you want to make sure that all the conversations that happen and interactions between not just Porky and Daffy, Daffy and Petunia, Porky and Petunia, the invader, all of these interactions are carefully directed and curated by Pete and Alex, and the editors and anyone putting it together for the final picture. There are instances where, 99% of the time when I watch stuff in its entirety that I’ve worked on, I don’t remember any of it. And sometimes it’s a combination of lines– like the beginning of take 42, and the tail end of take 56. It could be different takes from different days. So it definitely does help to record [Porky voice] Porky first. He’s less strenuous on my voice, and [Eric voice] Daffy, who always starts at 11, and then he breaks the dial.
BH: That’s why the dynamic between them works so well. Was it hard only using Porky and Daffy, and not bringing in Bugs and everyone else? I thought there would be a cameo or something, but I was really impressed there’s not.
EB: [We were] going with the theme of the original shorts and pairings of characters. You know, the only time you ever really got to see Bugs, Daffy and Porky [together] was in that one short, I forgot which one it was, but it ends with them going [Daffy voice] “I wonder what Bugs would do? We should call Bugs for some advice.” [Eric voice] Then he’s literally in the next room on a phone.
PB: It’s a Frank Tashlin cartoon. I can’t remember the name. It’s black and white. It wasn’t even in color yet. Porky Pig’s Feat.
EB: Unlike the Muppets, who usually are together as an ensemble, Looney Tunes were kind of made not to be. They’re separate. So Pete and the gang decided to keep it that way. I think it’s for the better in this. You really get to concentrate on the story just with these two, and not necessarily have to rely on cameos or cutbacks, or cutaway gags, or throwbacks for nostalgia purposes.
BH: Or just to have Bugs’ name on the poster.
PB: They were purposely designed that way. They were never supposed to be an ensemble cast. They were pairings for comedic purposes, for story.
BH: I’ve seen, I’m sure, most of the shorts at this point in my life, and when I was in LA last year I got to see a couple at the New Bev in front of some Marlon Brando movies. And at the Vista, where I saw Civil War, they played one with, I don’t know the dog’s name…
PB: Charlie Dog.
BH: He gets kicked off a train, and then pretends to be a Southern dog so he can stay at a plantation. It was thematically appropriate. I think.
PB: That’s Quentin. Thank you, Quentin Tarantino, for that tradition.
BH: I really miss when I was a kid, just getting to see those cartoons at like any hour of the day. They’d just be like, oh, it’s 3:45, time for another Looney Tunes. I’d be like, oh, I haven’t seen this Tweety one before. I think keeping them sectioned off really works well, but it’s been interesting to see a couple of the cartoons where they made them all live in a cul-de-sac.
EB: That was The Looney Tunes Show, and that was probably the first time that I ever voiced a Looney Tunes character. I was [Marvin the Martian voice] Marvin the Martian for fifteen Earth years. Isn’t that lovely? [Eric voice] I think the original pilot skewed a bit younger. It was basically like a music video. They were singing a song together. [Porky voice, singing] “A beautiful day for a leisurely drive, drifting all the clouds away.” [Eric voice] I remember seeing that but I wasn’t in it. Joe Alaskey was still alive at the time, and doing those voices, and when it got into production it changed, and it became more like Family Guy— they went for drier humor. We’ve seen the Looney Tunes with a more dry, wry sense of humor with Chuck Jones in the later years. In 2011 it was received all right, but now The Looney Tunes Show is having some kind of popular resurgence in small clips on Instagram, which is pretty funny. It’s like, hey, people will catch a wave when they see it. Who knows?
BH: That’s the thing, you can do anything with these characters. This film in particular they’re dropped into Invasion of the Body Snatchers but with bubble gum. When I realized what this was really playing at, of it being a pastiche of ‘50s sci-fi stuff, I was thrilled. This is the first feature length Looney Tunes movie ever. How did you finally make it happen? I’m sure there have been tons of plans, and there were obviously compilation films, but nothing like this.
PB: First fully animated, original Looney Tunes feature. There have been compilation films, as you mentioned. Basically, timing is everything in Hollywood in a lot of ways. They were looking to revamp Looney Tunes because of Space Jam: A New Legacy, so I got asked to pitch a take on Looney Tunes for shorts on Max. Those went well, so they were like, “Hey, you got an idea for making a long form special or a movie?” And then I came up with this pitch for it. I actually just recently found one of my earliest sketches in one of my notepads, because, you know, you’re on meetings, and you’re just doodling. It was the Invaders from Planet X. That was the original title I had. I wanted to do an Ed Wood Looney Tunes movie. And, luckily, we had a modest budget, we had a crew set to go rolling over from the shorts, we had Eric, we had all these key elements in place. It would have been foolish not to just get something else out of us. It’s been a journey where we’ve had some moments where the future didn’t look so bright. I think it speaks to the quality of the crew and everyone involved, because we really love these characters and wanted to do something special. Ketchup Entertainment putting the movie out is huge.
BH: It’s so exciting that it’s going to be in theaters. I’ll take any opportunity to see 2D animation on the big screen.
PB: I think we’re a little bit of a unicorn because of that too. There’s a lot of anime in theaters now, but it’s nice to see traditionally animated Looney Tunes up there.
BH: I feel like I’m watching every show that is 2D animated, because there are so few at this point. I’m watching Harley Quinn and Common Side Effects, really seeing the different takes on that.
PB: I hope there’s more. I hope this ushers some sort of revival, because it’s pretty affordable to produce high quality 2D animation now.
BH: There should always be more.
PB: See the movie in theaters March 14th!
EB: [Porky voice] That’s all, folks!
BH: Thank you, Porky.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
2024
dir. Peter Browngardt
91 min.
Opens Friday, 3/14 @ Apple Cinemas, West Newton Cinema, and AMC Assembly Row, South Bay, and Causeway
